The Life and Times of Abram Goodwin Kellogg (b: June 15, 1812 – d: August 9, 1895)

I know you have come to ask me about my experience in the war of the rebellion and specifically about my capture in the second month of the war, and while I am ready to explain and defend my actions in that capture you should first know more about me.Early LifeI was born in New Hartford on June 15 in 1812. I never knew my father as he died a few short months after I was born. My mother raised me and our family life in the early years of the 1800s was hard.

At an early age I had to learn to survive and use my wits. For many of my younger years I worked as a farm hand and a carpenter helping to build homes in areas around Winsted. I became a member of the 21st regiment infantry militia and rose to the rank of colonel. On May 6, 1846 I married Sophia Crum. I was 34 and she was 31. Sophia’s father died when she was 9 years old and her mother Hanna, who was 29 when Sophia was born, raised Sophia. Although we would have liked children, the Lord never blessed us with offspring. Instead we both became involved in civic and religious organizations. Sophia and I met many of the outstanding leaders of the First Congressional Church. As the church membership began to grow and as more families moved to the West end of town into newer homes, I along with many others -- including John Boyd, Moses and Caleb Camp, John Bidwell, John Rockwell and Charles Spencer to name only a few who were influential leaders in town and whose names, you know, are now on many of the streets in Winsted -- we decided we needed a church in the West area of town. In 1853, along with many of these influential families that I have just named, I became one of the founders of the 2nd Congregational Church – this is the church that, as you now know, is now at the intersection of Spencer and Main streets in the West village of Winsted. I was 41 at the time and taking part in thecommunity and being an active citizen was a responsibility that I took seriously. Newspaper accounts of the time were filled with the news of the abhorrent evil of slavery and the brave deeds of abolitionists like our neighbor from Torrington, John Brown. With the election of PresidentLincoln we all knew that the Southerners might one day rebel and try to secede from our precious union.

On April 12, 1861 -- a day that I know you all remember -- shots were fired on Fort Sumter and the war of the rebellion became a reality.

Entry into War and CaptureI was not one to be inactive in such a compelling time in our nation’s history. At 49 years old as a colonel in the local militia, I enlisted in the Army of the Republic pledging to bring a troop of Connecticut loyalists to fight the southern rebels. During April and into early May I recruited several of our boys from town and around the area to join me on my mission to Virginia with the call: “Patriots Come Forth.” Many did. Upon arriving in Northern Virginia I was named Captain in Company K, Connecticut 2nd infantry regiment. We all believed during these first few months of the war that it would all be over quickly if we could make a strong showing in defense of the Union. On the morning of June 22 1861 – this was two months after the firing on Fort Sumter -- I was scouting out a house in the area of Falls Church, VA that had been rumored to be the home of a Johnny Reb by the name of Scott. In the afternoon, two young women who had been providing sewing material to the local troops asked for protection as they walked through the wood that was near this house that I had been watching. I took a private Hoyt and accompanied the two women toward the area of the home. When we passed a split in the road I asked Hoyt to stand guard and I walked the women another 50 yards closer to the home. It was then that two rebs jumped out of the wood with their muskets pointed at me. I was about to call for Hoyt to join me when four more rebs joined their companions. Hoyt ran back to our encampment to get aid, but it was too late.The rebs seeing I was a captain escorted me to their camp and then to the Fairfax Court House. I later learned that Hoyt summoned a search party to attempt my rescue but it was far too late in the evening and I was far too removed from the site of my capture. Some erroneous and prejudicial reports said that I was seduced into the capture by the two women. That’s not true. I was following the rules of leadership by providing a secure escort to young women who should not have been anywhere near the possibility of a battle. I later learned from other soldiers that these ladies were innocent of the knowledge that rebels were in the area and hiding in the woods, just waiting for a union soldier to pass by. I believe that my capture that afternoon and the eventual disruption that it caused among our troops that evening quite possibly saved many lives. You see, the rebels told me that they had surrounded our encampment and were ready to penetrate and rouse the boys in the early morning of the next day. But with my capture, our troops came on alert and became engaged in looking for me. The attack that the rebs had been planning for that next morning was called off. Life as PrisonerAfter being taken prisoner and processed at the Fairfax Court House I was taken to Manassas. This was only weeks before the first major land battle of the war. This battle changed our romanticizing about the war because in it 3,000 union troops and 2,000 rebel troops lost their lives. The South called this the battle of Manassas; us in the North called it the Battle of Bull Run.After Manassas I was then moved to Richmond and finally brought to Raleigh, North Carolina.This was in the early months of the war and there was still some civility between the opposing forces. In Raleigh I signed an agreement that if I would not leave the boundary of the town I could roam freely -- and for the next seven months lived as a prisoner -- and a resident -- of the town. I thought this would be my condition for many months – and although I found the town to be a dreary little village, it was away from the fighting. I later learned that less fortunate prisoners of the war – many, who ended in Andersonville -- had harder goings and often wished they had been killed rather than endure the misery of that prison. I owe my good fortune to my age and to the rank of captain that was held in esteem by the rebels. My time in Raleigh was uneventful until January of 1862 when the rebels told me I was being released in exchange for a Southern Navy Lieutenant by the name of Butt who had been captured near New York City. The navy’s rank of Lieutenant is equal to the soldier’s rank of Captain so this was a fortunate occurrence for me and the fact that I was of the highest ranking officer in Raleigh at the time made me the only choice. Leaving Raleigh I traveled to Norfolk and then to Baltimore then into Washington D.C. for my formal mustering out of the service on January 21, 1862 -- seven months after my capture and 9 months after my enlistment. I traveled home to Winsted in that snowy January eventually boarding a train at Naugatuck on January 23. But that evening the train was hampered from making the northern run outside of Waterbury by a snow-covered pass in Wolcottville. There I stayed – almost like the prisoner I had been in Raleigh -- until the next day when several of my associates from Winsted came by carriage to pick me up.After the WarThe war of rebellion went on for three more long years. During that time I continued to encourage our local boys to join in the fight to preserve the Union. Many did and many never came home. Some came home without an arm or a leg. It is a burden I hold that I never suffered the pain of battle that these brave men did.

Back in Winsted, I settled into my life with Sophia. I found odd jobs and helped in the building of many homes in the area. Sophia’ mother died in 1872. Nine years later Sophia left this life a week after my 69th birthday. She was 66. My life was more difficult without Sophia for the next 14 years, although many of our friends tried to console me and offer me meals and a place to live, I missed her terribly. I did find some solace in assisting my friends to raise money and build a memorial to the brave me who fought to preserve the Union. The Camp family donated farmland for this Soldiers’ Monument on Camp Hill on what you now know as Crown Street. That monument was dedicated on September 11, 1890. I was there at that dedication. My health finally gave way and at 83 years old, I died on August 9, 1895. I have much to be thankful for in my 83 years. I married and lived with a wonderful woman for 35 years, I had many friends who I helped establish the 2nd Congregational Church, and saw a most beautiful dedication of a memorial to our all of our brave men who fought in what you now call the Civil War. But most importantly, I am thankful that the Union prevailed.

This historical-fiction retelling of the life of Abram G. Kellogg was compiled from Civil War records, newspaper accounts, birth and marriage records, and the Annals of Winchester and retold by Jack Bourque, a member of the Soldiers’ Monument Commission of the Town of Winchester. October 26, 2013.

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